Brain or Heart-What is More Important?

I'm reading the Wonderful Wizard of Oz to my kiddos right now-a chapter per day. So Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman have a very interesting conversation. They debate what is more important to have-a brain or a heart? I do this activity with every group I read this book too (I read different chapter books different years). And it's very telling to me what kind of group I have. A few years ago almost everyone in the class chose "heart"-they were a very sensitive, empathetic group. This group, interestingly enough, mostly chose brains. I wonder if that's because we have so many boys this year!

Anyway, I asked them to choose which one they thought was more important and to tell me why. I stressed that both organs are required to live, so brain/heart keeps you alive was not an answer I was looking for. It's more about what's more important-being able to think or being able to love?

A brain because if you are in Kindergarten then you wouldn't be able 

to do writing assignments.

Heart-you need to walk.

Heart-so you can stay with people.

brain because you need it to pass your test.

Brain because you have to think about math, science and social studies.

Heart because you have to care for other people.

Brain to do math problems.

brain to say hello

Brain because you need to learn about butterflies.

Brain because you can be smart.

Big Ideas-Memory

One of Kaplan's concepts of Depth and Complexity is Big Idea. Many teachers see incorporating this simply as main idea-what was the main idea of a story, etc. I see it more as being able to explain big ideas-something that I think is a little more challenging. I read my kiddos one of my favorite stories:

And you can hear the story read aloud here: 

http://www.storylineonline.net/wilfrid-gordon-mcdonald-partridge/

The book is about a boy who lives next door to a nursing home and he goes from resident to resident asking them what a memory is. He gets different answers-a memory can make you happy, it can make you sad. So I asked the kids to put into words what a memory was--I was very specific that I didn't want them to just give me an example of a memory or write "a memory is something you remember". I wanted them to go deeper than that and describe it to me in their words. Here's what they came up with:

I love this answer! I have often wondered if I am remembering something like the first day of Kindergarten, or simply remembering the picture of it.

something you remember a long time ago

a thing you have to know

something you remember of ever that's how you remember

something you remember-when my dad got me a puppy

Veteran's Day Cards

I have a friend who delivers cards to the VA every year and I was asked to have my kiddos make some cards for the veterans. As you know, I am very much a believer in open-ended activties. So we learned about why we celebrate Veteran's Day and I asked them to simply draw something for the soldiers and write a message to them thanking them for their service.

Thank you for saving us in the whole wide world.

Adapt for Critical Thinking

I discovered S.C.A.M.P.E.R. several years ago and did not know where it had been hiding my whole life! :) I use it particularly when we are talking about holidays. If you are not familiar with it Terri over at Engage Their Minds does wonderful things with it and I believe even has some resources on TPT:  Superhero-s-c-a-m-p-e-r/

Well, we did some activities involving the tradition of Halloween. One of them was to adapt the holiday for various other locations. Yes, the traditions here involve dressing up in silly costumes and carving pumpkins. But what would they do say in the North Pole, or in Africa or in the ocean or in space. These activities really tend to wake up those brain cells-it's not easy for them to adjust what they know and apply it in a different way. Some of them even wrote "I would just not celebrate Halloween if I lived in the North Pole". But there were several kiddos who got it-remember these guys are Kindergarteners.

North Pole: make a giant snowball

Africa: Roll up the grass

Ocean: Roll up the sand

Space: Pick up Jupiter and roll up the gases

North Pole:  a snow statue

Africa: a dry pumpkin

Ocean: a pearl pumpkin (love this!)

Space:  a pumpkin rocket

North Pole: use snow to make pumpkins

Africa: use mud to make pumpkins

Ocean: use sand to make pumpkins

Space: carve a spaceship

North Pole: You can wear a Halloween coat

Africa: You could make some short sleeves

Ocean: Make a Halloween swimsuit

Space: make Halloween spacesuits

North Pole: decorate a polar bear

Africa: decorate with a broken house

Ocean: decorate with a dead fish (I know!)

Space: I would use shapes

                                                      Space: make a pumkin out of Pluto